Paraffin Inhibitor

Definition - What does Paraffin Inhibitor mean?

Paraffin Inhibitor is a chemical used to prevent or minimize the paraffin deposition in a wellbore by injecting it into the wellbore. There is a strong dependence of effectiveness of paraffin inhibitor on the crude oil composition in a wellbore. One important measure that has to be kept in mind while introducing the Paraffin Inhibitor is that it should be injected into the well before crude oil cools to its cloud point.

Petropedia explains Paraffin Inhibitor

One of the most important steps while introducing Paraffin Inhibitor into a wellbore is that crude oil should not be cooled to its cloud point. Cloud point is the temperature at which formation of wax crystals takes place in crude oil inside the wellbore. If this happens, the overall value in terms of market price of the crude oil will degrade as its API degree also becomes less. Thus, the crude oil will be converted into heavy and sour crude oil, making the organization to reap out less revenue.

Other important step that has to be kept in the mind before introducing the Paraffin Inhibitor in the wellbore is the composition of asphaltene, which should be determined before treatment as it can reduce the Paraffin Inhibitor’s effectiveness.